After every season of farming, it's always nice to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor (or in this case beef). Pennsylvania is an expansive state with wide open countryside filled with backyard farmers producing everything from common vegetables to beef and pigs.

The PASA Grass Finished Beef Cookoff is an excellent way for even the smallest farmers to garner appreciation for the food they produce. It's an eclectic group that gathers to participate in the cookoff, where no matter what your background is the common bond is always food. Old school commodity farmers who can't afford to keep up with the high costs of running large scale farming operations rub elbows with the up-and-coming young farmers eager to get their feet wet.

The importance of this event, and the multitude of different events similar to this one happening around the country, is that people are coming together and bonding over food. A local gathering of folks in the community having conversations about food and figuring out how they can bring themselves closer to the food they eat. They say the best way to get to know and understand a particular culture is to sit down and share a meal with that culture. You get an understanding of cultural norms and share a deep bond with people, all centered around sustenance. 

Food is good and good food is even better. Sharing a meal with someone, especially a meal you helped raise or prepare strengthens relationships and brings us closer together.